Who was the first woman to summit Mount Everest?

Junko Tabei was the first woman to summit Mount Everest, reaching the top on May 16, 1975. The Japanese climber completed the ascent with Sherpa guide Ang Tsering as part of the Japanese Women’s Everest Expedition.

Tabei’s expedition faced severe danger before the summit. On May 4, an avalanche buried her team’s camp at about 6,300 meters, leaving Tabei unconscious beneath the snow. After recovering from bruises and injuries, she continued climbing. Altitude sickness later meant that only one woman could make the final push, and Tabei was selected.

She followed the route used by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay in 1953. Tabei later became the first woman to complete the Seven Summits, climbing the highest mountain on every continent in 1992.

A common mix-up is confusing Tabei with Edurne Pasaban, who became the first woman to climb all fourteen eight-thousanders. Tabei’s record concerns the first female ascent of Everest, not the first woman to climb every major high-altitude peak.